Recognising the presence of the Kingdom of God
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
You may recall the Gospel from last Sunday. It was the well-known Parable of the Sower. As we are aware Jesus began his public ministry by preaching and teaching. His initial message called on people to repent and believe the Good News. The Good News was that the time had come and the Kingdom of God was “close at hand”.
In St Matthew’s Gospel, which we are reading this year, the evangelist devotes three chapters early in the Gospel to presenting the key teachings of Jesus. We know this body of teaching as the Sermon on the Mount. It begins with the well-known Beatitudes.
We are now reading from chapter 13 of St Matthew’s Gospel. The teaching of Jesus takes a new direction – Jesus begins to use parables – stories – to convey his message. In last week’s reading we are told that this puzzles the disciples and they ask: “Why do you talk to them in parables?”
Jesus explains simply that the people haven’t been grasping his message, and – more importantly – not responding to it. He quotes the Prophet Isaiah: “You will listen and listen again but not understand”. He adds that they have shut their eyes for fear that they may, in fact, see. And thus be converted and, as Jesus says, “healed by me”.
This Sunday we have a number of parables. It is worth noting that many of the parables of Jesus are about the Kingdom of God. They often begin with “the Kingdom of God is like …” – as we can see in today’s reading. Jesus is attempting to explain to the people the nature of the Kingdom of God.
This is also an important question for us – how do we understand the nature of the Kingdom of God? We believe in God. We are aware that God is in heaven. We also believe that God is active in the world, in our lives. It is through our faith that we participate in the Kingdom of God.
These parables about the Kingdom of God are about the hidden work of God amongst us. The parable of the mustard seed is a good example. While small and insignificant the work of God is able to produce extraordinary fruitfulness. There is a principal of life within the seed and it grows without any intervention from us.
These parables invite us to be more aware of God’s presence in our lives. They encourage us to be open to the activity of God. How can we do this?
The key to being alert to God is to have an interior or spiritual life, a life that is nurtured by prayer. I am sure we all pray. When we come to Mass we open up our hearts and lives to God. We pray for our needs and those of family and friends.
As well as our prayers of petition it is also important that we develop the art of listening to God. We can listen for the voice of God through the Scriptures that are read. However, to truly listen for the voice of God we need to develop an interior silence. We need to be content to dwell in God’s presence and open ourselves to Him.
Prayer is vital for the Christian life. Not only prayer of petition but also prayer of attention or listening. We need to learn how to wait on God. We need to be able to seek the will of God.
This is how we can truly live in the Kingdom of God. It is a spiritual kingdom and we abide in this kingdom through an active spiritual life.
Jesus turned to parables because he could see that the people were not responding to his preaching and teaching. They may have heard the words but did not take them to heart. They may have struggled to understand the spiritual import of what he was saying.
To be a Christian is to live within the Kingdom of God. We know that it is both hidden and powerful. This Kingdom is not known by the world, as it needs faith to be able to enter this Kingdom.
We notice that the first parable, which the Lord later explains, describes the reality of living in the world. God is at work, and so is the evil one. Now, while God’s grace is being fruitful, evil is also at work. This is the way things will be in the world. But the Lord tells us that there will be a time of judgement, a final reckoning of good and evil.
Thus, the Christian must live amongst evils of this world, and perhaps have to suffer because of this evil. In many ways opposition to the Church is growing in our society. The darnel is growing higher. Sometimes all we can see is the darnel – the evil in the world around us. It is harder to see the wheat – the works of God in the lives of people. God’s work does not receive much notice at all, yet it is real.
Being aware of the Lord’s teaching about the Kingdom of God encourages us to be more attentive to what God may be doing – in our own lives, in the Church and in the world. Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God has come. God is active. The more we are aware of this, the more we can co-operate with the work of God.
In the light of these parables we can ask God to help us see Him and His work in the world. We can ask for spiritual eyes. We can seek to be more engaged with the Kingdom of God than with the kingdom of this world.
Archbishop Julian Porteous